For high speed data bus and optical systems, a series of connectors and inserts have been recently developed. These allow the use of keyed inserts inside a standardised connector shell, wherein keyed flats ensure that inserts are correctly inserted within a connector housing.
In the case of a typical connector shaped conductors project from one side to the other and are held by an insulator mounted within a metal casing. This insulator would typically be made of epoxy, silicon rubber sealant or glass, as is the case with a standard “MIL-38999” type connector.
Most typically, wires are soldered or crimped onto the backs of pins to make a good mechanical and electrical contact. As such, the fronts of the conductors are shaped, for example, as pins which are designed to fit into sockets in a matching connector. The two connector casings (male and female) engage to ensure axial alignment via machined flats to ensure the correct angular orientation the male and female portions are matably received. Thus, through insertion of the male portion into the female portion, the pins and sockets are substantially aligned before they come into contact with each other and damage through incorrect insertion is thereby prevented, so being referred to as “scoop-proofing”.
A number of connectors have been developed which allow a number of these small connectors to be assembled into a standard larger connector. Such large connector assemblies, which comprise multiple individual connectors, may also include a screw fixing to hold two halves of a connector together. Such large scale connectors usually contain further key-ways to ensure angular orientation between the two halves of said large scale connector.
Typically, minerally insulated cable, also known as MI cable, is used in high temperature applications. Therein, a flexible metal tube/casing is typically filled with one or more wires, the wires of which are often prevented from coming into contact with both each other and the casing by filling the tube with a mineral powder to provide both an electrical- and heat-insulating portion. In particular, the incorporation of a heat-insulating portion thereby makes MI cable particularly suitable for use in high-temperature environments.
Of particular difficulty when using MI cable is the connection and termination of the cable within a given electrical system. In particular, pot seals are known as a viable means for both connecting and terminating MI cable, wherein MI cable is fed into a casing, which is most typically metal and thereby referred to as a pot. However, MI cable is notoriously difficult to terminate and/or connect to other components using these methods, and these terminations are easily damaged such that they are rendered unreliable.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide an improved connector suitable for the connection or termination of MI cable without the aforementioned disadvantages.